Humans would have been aware of the other creatures that shared their world from earliest times. At first they would have had an eye towards possible predators or competitors, then possible prey as they became hunters. As the cognitive ability of Early Humans developed, they would observe the nature of the animals which co-habited this Earth with them.

In April 2013, ROM Biodiversity is sending a team of researchers deep into the Bornean rainforest in search of new species of insects, mammals and fungi and new data of relevance to conservation planning.